The Texas Health and Human Services Commission, with its $16 billion annual budget and 9,300 employees, administers and determines eligibility for programs for underprivileged Texans, including Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

State Rep. John Zerwas, a budget conferee, said Monday he’s relatively confident that a rider stipulating the Legislature's preferred Medicaid reform terms for any deal with the federal government would stick to the 2014-15 budget.

A new website and database released by the Texas Policy Evaluation Project explores the impact of cuts made in 2011 to state family-planning services, breaking down information on the county and district level.

UPDATED: U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, and his twin, San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro, will hold their own event at the Capitol on Monday to promote the Medicaid expansion provision of federal health reform.

Tiger Whitehead and his children Logic and Domnick, who used SNAP and the the Sustainable Food Center Farmer's Market double dollars coupons, shopping at the Farmer's Market at 2835 East MLK Blvd. in Austin on March 19, 2013.

About 50 Texas farmers markets take SNAP benefits, WIC benefits or both. The programs are not well utilized, but proponents say it's important to provide as many healthy food options as possible for Texans who use nutrition benefits.

As state legislators consider what “a Texas solution” to Medicaid expansion would look like, others have begun addressing the question of how Medicaid expansion would affect the state budget and local taxes.

News that the federal government has negotiated with Arkansas to allow that state to use billions of dollars in Medicaid funds to buy private health insurance for the state's poorest residents has some Texas Republicans intrigued.

It's politically unpopular among most Texas Republicans, but proposals to expand Medicaid coverage have gained traction with some fiscal conservatives. This interactive shows the estimated economic impact of expanding Medicaid by legislative district.

The Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday opened its discussion on how to finance the state's health budget by considering the impact of cost containment initiatives and how to proactively curb Medicaid fraud.

Texas' Republican leadership is adamant that Texas will not expand Medicaid, a major tenet of federal health reform. A report by the state's former deputy comptroller and former chief revenue estimator suggests that would be short-sighted.

Democratic legislators are questioning whether the Texas Women’s Health Program has an adequate network of health care providers in light of a state agency’s decision to pull the list of providers from a state website.

As they contemplate whether to expand Medicaid, Texas lawmakers will weigh factors including enrollment growth, costs and savings, and the effects on the rate of insured. This interactive breaks down the numbers connected to those factors.

The Health and Human Services Commission says the Texas Women’s Health Program has a greater capacity to serve impoverished women than its predecessor, a joint state-federal program that ended after the state excluded clinics affiliated with abortion providers.

State officials are optimistic about the new Texas Women’s Health Program, which launched this week amid a long-running legislative fight. But at least one state lawmaker thinks there’s a problem with the program’s list of providers.

The state this week launched its own version of the Women’s Health Program, which provides some health services to low-income women. Texas is funding the program on its own after the federal government pulled money following a long-running dispute over Planned Parenthood.

The rates of elective surgery for Medicare patients vary dramatically depending on which part of the state Texans live in, according to new research from the Dartmouth Atlas Project, which analyzes medical referrals, procedures and health care costs across the nation.

The federal government will halt funding for Texas’ Women’s Health Program on Dec. 31, the country’s Medicaid director wrote in a letter to state health officials the day after her boss, President Obama, was re-elected.

At this morning's TribLive conversation, before the decision to delay implementation of the new Women's Health Program went public, Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Kyle Janek talked about what the state plans to do and why.